Clogged radiator

53 stickfigure · Apr 4, 2017

Im sure this topic has been discussed a million times but i cant afford a radiator at the moment. Was going to bring the 53 home yesterday when i noticed the top radiator hose was red hot and the lower was cold. I have new hoses and thermostat i was going to change this week, now its going to be today. Im going to try and seal a garden hose around the lower hose and back flush. If this dont work, any ideas? I've thought about clr, ive used it before, but not in a 64 year old radiator. I will get a new one later on, but , my wallet wont let me right now.

MercuryMac · Apr 4, 2017

I have used some rad flush stuff, [I don't remember the brand name], on an old rad and it cleaned out the cores pretty well. Also the flushing didn't find any new holes so I won that round. Good luck.

Toad · Apr 4, 2017

You sure your water pump's not toast? [S

Toad

Dr Crankenstein · Apr 4, 2017

For $3.00, I'd adapt a garden hose to the drain/petcock fitting.

How do you know the radiator's plugged? Can you see blocked tubes through the fill neck? I suspect the thermostat is stuck... or it's "dry". (It needs to be in fluid to operate.)

.

Old Iron · Apr 4, 2017

Toad said:
You sure your water pump's not toast? [S

Toad

Dr Crankenstein said:
For $3.00, I'd adapt a garden hose to the drain/petcock fitting.

How do you know the radiator's plugged? Can you see blocked tubes through the fill neck? I suspect the thermostat is stuck... or it's "dry". (It needs to be in fluid to operate.)

.

Both of these are valid
Pour water in the inlets and outlets and if it run through then it's not plugged.

53 stickfigure · Apr 4, 2017

Back flushed the radiator and she's as good as gold. A small amount of gunk came out the bottom but when i gorilla taped the garden hose to the lower radiator hose, a small village of rust clumps came out the filler neck. After a few minutes the water ran free and clear out the top. Changed the hoses and thermostat and a 70/30 mix of coolant and she's running cool as a cucumber. Im driving her home from the work garage tomorrow to start body work. Our first cruise in is may 20th.